| | | In today’s edition, Rebecca Mead, who writes about Gillian Anderson in this week’s issue, shares her favorite performance by the actor. And the New Yorker ideas editor, Joshua Rothman, introduces his new column. Plus:
• How Nicolas O’Rourke is rallying the Black vote
• What’s scarier than sharks?
• Reimagining China in Tokyo | | | | | Rebecca Mead
Staff writer This is hardly a scientific survey, but, over the past few weeks, whenever I mentioned to anyone that I was working on a Profile of Gillian Anderson, the response was the same, whether it be from a nineteen-year-old friend of my son’s to a middle-aged acquaintance from the neighborhood—the delighted exclamation “Gillian Anderson!” Anderson is beloved by people across the board, from the teen-agers who have binged all of “Sex Education” to those devotees of “The Crown” sufficiently advanced in age that they still buy actual box sets (hi, Mum!), and including the thirtysomethings, in between, who grew up watching “The X-Files.” Anderson has been around long enough, and has appeared in such a diverse range of arts and entertainments, that, whatever kind of thing you like watching, sooner or later she’s likely to pop up. Recently, on a plane, I decided to while away a couple of hours with “The Last King of Scotland,” which I hadn’t seen in fifteen-odd years, and there she was—Gillian Anderson! In researching the piece for this week’s issue, which is pegged to the release of Anderson’s new book, a collection of sexual fantasies titled “Want,” I got to revisit what is perhaps my favorite work in the actor’s œuvre: “The Fall,” a three-season drama/thriller that aired from 2013 until 2016. Created by Allan Cubitt and set in Northern Ireland, it stars Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, opposite Jamie Dornan in his first major role, as Paul Spector, a serial sex murderer. Anderson is utterly compelling as the highly intelligent and thoroughly self-possessed Gibson, and the culminating confrontation between the two characters is a masterclass in the power of restraint, with Anderson’s lowered eyelid in opposition to the clench of Dornan’s jaw—until violence breaks out in the most shocking of ways. Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | | | | From the News Desk |  Campaign Chronicles Will Black Men Turn Out for Kamala Harris?In Philadelphia, the Independent city councilman Nicolas O’Rourke is ambivalent about the Democrats but waging an effort to swing soft Trumpers to Harris. By Eliza Griswold | | | | | Joshua Rothman | |  Illustration by Josie Norton We live in newsy times. Things seem to get crazier from day to day, and the headlines, like magnets, can attract and repel with equal force. Like many people, I feel torn between keeping up and finding time to learn, think, and follow my own curiosity. With Open Questions, my new column publishing every Tuesday, I’ll be aiming to pull you (and me!) in the latter direction. I’ll be exploring books, people, and ideas that can help us find a broader perspective, sometimes about the news but often about ourselves. Today, in the first installment, I ask what we can learn from our own ignorance. | | | |  | Next week, on August 7th, we’ll be sharing a first look at some of the guests at this year’s 25th Anniversary New Yorker Festival, with a limited number of 3-Day Premier Passes and single-event tickets going on sale. Subscribers will get exclusive access to a 24-hour presale. Subscribe today » | | | | | | Editor’s Picks |  A Critic at Large Beware of Sharkless WatersOur nightmares may be haunted by circling dorsal fins—but there’s something more sinister happening below the surface of the sea. By Katherine Rundell | | | | | Dispatch Reimagining China in TokyoA new community of expats is opening bookstores, attending lectures, and imagining alternatives to Xi from the relative safety of Japan. By Chang Che | | | | |  | If you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter, please share it. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up. | | | | Fifty Days of Flash Fiction | Flash Fiction “Hook”“At school, you try to learn your tables, but all you see in your head is a field of dead horses.” By Danielle McLaughlin | | | | | | | Fun & Games Dept. | Crossword A Moderately Challenging PuzzleThe character Tosca, or the performer portraying her, e.g.: nine letters. By Wyna Liu | | Shouts & Murmurs What a Nervous Flier HearsUp here in the flight deck, I am assisted by First Officer Bentley, with whom I have irreconcilable workplace tension. By Matt Porter | | Daily Cartoon Tuesday, July 30th By Will Santino | | | | |  | Name Drop: Can you guess the identity of a notable person—contemporary or historical—in six clues? Play a quiz from our archive » | | | | | P.S. “The X-Files” is great for two reasons, Joshua Rothman explained in 2016. First is the “gentle, intellectual romance between Mulder and Scully,” played with droll subtlety by David Duchovny and the inimitable Gillian Anderson. Second is the show’s playful spontaneity, its “vibe of improvisational zaniness,” without which “nine seasons of flying saucers would have been unbearable.” 👽 | | | | | | | |
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